Police identify suspect in double sexual assault

Police have identified and charged a suspect in a home invasion and double sexual assault that took place near Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue earlier this week.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, police said the suspect is 20 years old and is facing 11 charges, including breaking and entering and forcible confinement.

According to police, two women were attacked when they answered the door at a North Toronto home late Monday morning. At the door, a man claiming to be a newspaper salesman forced his way inside and threatened the two women with a knife, police allege. The victims, 25 and 30 years old, were sexually assaulted.

Det. Sgt. LeeAnne Papizewski of the Toronto Police Sex Crimes Unit said police were able to obtain images of the man when a witness led them to the TTC, which was able to provide security images from a bus.

“There are witnesses that have come forward that were instrumental in leading us to the TTC,” Papizewski said. “Then the TTC provided us with the images that were on board the bus.”

The images and a surveillance video of the suspect outside the victims’ home were widely shown by media outlets Tuesday afternoon and evening

A young man, accompanied by his mother, turned himself in at 12 Division on Wednesday at about 1:20 a.m.

Papizewski praised the witnesses for coming forward and said the incident was worrisome for the community.

“It is really concerning,” Papizewski said, speaking to the fact the attacks appear to have been random rather than targeted. “It’s good that the community came forward.”

Meanwhile, officers searched a home on Sheppard Avenue, near Jane Street, in connection with the investigation.

Suspect Alaa Hejazi is scheduled to appear in a courtroom Thursday at 10 a.m.

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Photos

This photo, taken from a security camera inside a TTC bus, shows a suspect wanted in connection with a violent sex assault inside a house in the Lawrence Avenue and Avenue Road area. (Photo courtesy Toronto Police)

Toronto police have released this image of a suspect sought in connection with the sexual assault of two women in the Lawrence Avenue and Avenue Road area on Monday, Nov. 12, 2012.